Many areas of the world rely upon the collection and use of reclaimed precipitation as a primary source of usable water. Cisterns and other devices are utilized for purposes of collecting and storing water runoff from impervious surfaces such as the rooftops of dwellings. While generally unpotable, such systems provide a useful source of water for tasks such as irrigation, washing cars or driveways, and the like.
Many such cisterns and other similar rainwater recollection systems store the water in a stagnant, manually accessed manner. Items such as pails or buckets are often the only means of accessing and transporting the water. As such, the process of utilizing the reclaimed water is often tedious or impossible, thus reducing the efficiency of employing such methods and resulting in the use of municipal wells or other sources of water for many tasks, which in turn eliminates the usefulness and purposes of such cistern systems.
Various attempts have been made to provide a system for the reclamation and subsequent reuse of rainwater. Examples of these attempts can be seen by reference to several U.S. patents. U.S. Pat. No. 2,814,529, issued in the name of Arnt, describes a water dispersing device. The Arnt device is essentially a hose which is adaptable to a downspout of a common roof gutter system, allowing a user to use the precipitating water in a useful manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,304, issued in the name of Chumley, describes a rainwater collection and distribution apparatus. The Chumley apparatus provides a box-like structure which acts as a rainwater control mechanism by collecting rainwater and dispersing it in a manner which reduces runoff rates and provides infiltration.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,941,702, issued in the name of Abrams et al., describes a rainwater collection and dispensation system. The Abrams system provides an elevated storage device for roof-collected rainwater runoff which incorporates the water into nearby systems to augment water flow to toilet and irrigation systems.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives, each of these references suffer from one (1) or more of the aforementioned disadvantages. Many such systems do not provide an adequate means for the varied reuse of the collected water according to a user's needs. Also, many such systems are not easily and cheaply retrofittable to existing roof water runoff collection systems. Furthermore, many such systems do not provide adequate storage and pressurizing means to allow a user to use the water in a simple and conventional manner upon collection. Accordingly, there exists a need for a rain water collection system without the disadvantages as described above. The development of the present invention substantially departs from the conventional solutions and in doing so fulfills this need.